VFW scolds members for heckling the press during Trump speech

The Veterans of Foreign Wars on Tuesday said the organization is "disappointed" with members who heckled the press during a speech by President Donald Trump at the 2018 VFW convention and were "happy" to have members of the media at the event.

"We were disappointed to hear some of our members boo the press," Randi Law, manager of communications and public affairs for VFW, said in a statement to POLITICO. "We rely on the media to help spread the VFW's message, and CNN, NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS, and others on site today, were our invited guests. We were happy to have them there."

Advertisement

Trump during his speech in Kansas City, Missouri, criticized the press, which led to boos and heckling of reporters covering the event.

The president has often criticized members of the media, calling them "fake news," for stories on his administration that he does not agree with.

During Tuesday's speech, he called CNN "the worst" and criticized NBC News saying that a story they did was by "the lobbyists," but did not clarify what he meant.

POLITICO Playbook newsletter

Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics

Email

By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

"That piece was done by the lobbyist, and the people that they hire, it was a total set-up," Trump said of an NBC News report. "I wanted to say 'I gotta do something about this Trump.' Terrible."

He went on to criticize the media as a whole and stayed in line with his "fake news" trope.

"Just remember: what you’re seeing and what you're reading is not what’s happening," Trump said.